Mexico City offers free WiFi in exchange for doggie-doo disposal

It can be a challenge to get dog owners to pick up after their pets. So Mexican Internet firm Terra and ad agency DDB Mexico are using a reward system—free Internet access in exchange for properly disposing of doggy doo. Under the initiative, 10 Mexico City public parks have been outfitted with special dog-poo receptacles that also broadcast wireless Internet signals. Each time someone drops a bag of waste in the bin, it begins transmitting a WiFi signal to everyone in the park for several minutes. In an amusing online ad for the program, a dog owner shakes his dog’s rear end. “I need to send an email,” he says. As the marketing blog Creativity notes: “In an age when people are probably more interested in staring at their smartphone than watching what their dog is doing, this is a smart idea.”

The companies acknowledge the WiFi signal can be triggered by dumping any garbage into the bin, but they note that doing so still helps clean up the parks.